2022-12-05 Meeting notes: Camunda - workflow solution at TAMU

Date

05 Dec 2022

Housekeeping

• Convener and notes: Martina Schildt
• Next meeting: 14 Dec 2022 last meeting in 2022
• New and open Slack channel: #appinteraction_crossapp
  • all members are copied
  • old channel will be archived in the course of the week

Discussion items

1. Potential for external 'workflow' solutions for cross-app interactions | solution at TAMU Jeremy Huff Sebastian Hammer 

Minutes

• there will be opportunities that arise when workflows are handled within in the system
• automation vs. human workflow management | the presented proposal is combining both
• example for a workflow: creating a PO → link or create Inventory item → receive item → place on shelf | template for a workflow "PUrchase a single item"
• type of model can be useful for
  • staff guidance
  • team/staff assignments
  • tracking
  • history (reporting)
  • context for operations
  • relationships between objects
  • automation
• there is an old design by Filip Jacobsen
  • it was envisioned of being made of 2 apps workflows and to do app
• workflow app 
  • search and filter pane | workflow templates that match serach | selected workflow in detail
  • triggers were part of that design
  • there would be workflow steps
• to do app
  • left pane: tasks assigned or new
  • workflows open for person and based on selected filter
  • display of metadata and potential actions and notes
• those were visions in the early days of the project
• workflow management very complex | implementers had basic functionality that needed to work | that's why postponed constantly
• big idea: overarching UX vision was an extensible set of "small" apps
• workflows = first-class citizens
• apps would support discrete work activities
• carry state and context between individual tasks
• record history over time (related to tasks)
• manual and automated co-exist
• keep apps independent and simple

POC and TAMU deployment

• POC resourced by UBL, TAMU and ID
• based on commercial workflow engine Camunda
• manual tasks not suported today | UX is missing
• implemented "hooks" into some existing apps

• TAMU using in the context of FOLIO on a regular basis
• Jeremy demos interface | there are reports and workflows and users
• Camunda cockpit dashboard with number of process definitions
  • processes can be displayed as diagrams
  • open incidents and errors are displayed
  • integrations ans interactions, e.g. with Coral
  • question by Owen: are workflows automations of data in/data out processes
    • back and forth between automated tasks and human tasks | Camunda pauses automated processes for human tasks to be fulfilled
  • users often ask for library workflows, e.g. renewing subscriptions | there were examples in Coral which has task lists
  • Camunda seems kind of remote | how does human task interaction work?
  • early days it was approached from development view | "human" workflow requirements in mind | needed to be - at least potentially - included
  • the automation piece was the hard part
  • UX would benefit from being re-thought from scratch
  • Lehigh have automated triggers | Martina is trying to organize a demo for next meeting, Dec 14th
  • for workflows in Camunda they created repository | create workflows as JSON | as UI is missing
  • workflow interacts with FOLIO and communicates via e-mail with user
  • everything is primed for a UI
  • vision: finally put something more attractive on top
  • Owen in chat: Honestly if you’ve edited configuration tables in Aleph then this looks positively friendly 🙂
  • Laura in chat: same w/load profiles and circ rules in Sierra!
  • Jenn: similar in Voyager | how much urgency is there to work on workflows | the longer have time to work on their own solutions, the harder it is to combine everything again
  • Laura in chat: plus the more gets hard-coded into FOLIO the longer we wait
  • built in an abstraction | mod-workflows and mod-camunda | mod-camunda can be replaced if other tool needs to be used
  • Dec 14th: try to have presentation from Lehigh | then think about possible next steps

Chat

Future topics

• Topic proposal by Owen Stephens for October:
  • Use of shortcut keys and macros for more effective cross-app working  - it also be good to have UX and Stripes/dev knowledge for this discussion I think. I know @Laura (she/they) uses macros so might have insights into the potential for cross-app working
  • Potential for external 'workflow' solutions for cross-app interactions
    • I think 'workflow' is a dangerous term here - in this context it's more about automation than user workflows, although I think there is overlap
    • I was particularly struck by the solution in production at TAMU (Jeremy Huff and Sebastian Hammer presented, the recording is at https://prod-zoom-recordings-openlibraryfoundation-org.s3.amazonaws.com/50dc6c87-3912-43fa-8287-56ec73b12bbb%2Fshared_screen_with_speaker_view%28CC%29.mp4 starting at 3 hrs, 14 min) - I think getting someone from TAMU to talk about how this is used would be v interesting
    • There was also a presentation on the use of a tool called Airflow at Stanford for "bibliographic workflow" but I've not watched that yet so not 100% sure if it is completely applicable - I think the core use case there was systems migration but it may go beyond that
    • Or Jenn Colt on using Prefect
    • does not need to be workflow across apps
• UX/UI and implementers topics
  • should be Wednesdays
• comprehensive look at where data is copied and stored as opposed to live data | how it is represented

Attendees

Action items